


To trust again

by Purple_Fire



Category: Little Nightmares (Video Game)
Genre: Angst, Emotional Hurt, F/M, Reunions
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-13
Updated: 2021-03-20
Packaged: 2021-03-21 01:41:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 9,976
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30014187
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Purple_Fire/pseuds/Purple_Fire
Summary: Mono has been sitting on his chair for a long, long time. He's not the same boy who fell in. His escape is soon at hand, but some things will seem odd when he leaves the tower. What changed while he was locked away. And where is the monster in the yellow raincoat?
Relationships: Mono & Six (Little Nightmares), Mono/Six (Little Nightmares)
Comments: 26
Kudos: 212





	1. Years

Mono made gentle clicking sounds with his tongue as he kicked his legs in time with the clicks. His head swayed in time too, as his hands rested on the wooden chair. Time had been odd of late. Or at least, he’d been noticing it. There was no way to judge time, as the sun didn’t shine down here, and any clocks that were conjured never ticked. But his feet seemed to be closer to the floor than he remembered. Not that his memory was all that reliable. Then again, he was pretty sure that his head didn’t use to reach the top of the back of the chair. Right? A similar thought crossed his mind… a while ago now. He wasn’t sure when, but it must have been a while ago because the memory was fussy. But he could have sworn back then, that the chair seemed a little smaller.

The walls made gurgling sounds at him, reminding him, yet again, what the walls were really made of. The Flesh behind the walls talked to him in a way he both did and didn’t understand. He knew what the Flesh meant when they ‘talked’, but he did his best to ignore them. The walls had talked so many times it had become second nature to ignore it.

Was the chair getting smaller, or was he getting bigger? How long had it been? A day; an hour; a decade? He didn’t know. And he didn’t really care. All he really knew was that he’d been here longer than sixty seconds. He remembered counting and one point. Or was that just his imagination?

The room hadn’t changed at least. Hard floor, covered in cracks and a little raised in places. That singular dark pink light above him. Had it become more intense? Again, he wasn’t sure. He couldn’t be sure of anything. Ever since he fell… No… ever since he was dropped!

He gripped the edges of the chair tightly. The joints in his hands clicked and groaned, the tighter he squeezed the wooden.  
That girl. That little…!

The Flesh gurgled around him, and he forced himself to take a breath. The Flesh always gets a little excited when he let his rage consume him. But the anger never went away. That look on her face when she ripped her arm out of his grip. How she just walked away as if no one was ever there. Not an ounce of regret or sadness on her face.  
She meant was she did. She wanted him to fall. But he could only guess why. And he had guesses. It could have been when he smashed the giant music box that the Tower created for her; to coax her into feeling safe and to stay probably. Or when he freed the Thin Man and six was taken. He remembered her scream as she was taken, and her desperate attempts to get him to run just before it crawled out the screen. Mono couldn’t have possibly known what was behind that door. All that he knew what that he must open in… why did he even want to open it? At the time he thought it was some kind of salvation. An end to the suffering and fear. Somewhere safe or something that could help. He’d always gotten frustrated at the girl every time she dragged him out the screen before he could reach the door. But now… he knew it was for the best.  
Maybe everything he’d done up until that point was wrong and getting caught was the last straw. He couldn’t fault her for being mad, But this… sacrificing him to the tower -to the Flesh- was too far. Forcing him to spend the rest of his life at the bottom of The Transmission. A fate worse than death.

But there was nothing he could do about it. There’s nothing he could ever do about it, ever. Because he was condemned to this stupid wooden chair, in this bloody, cracked, boring, pink-lit, hidden flesh, false reality, worn, inescapable roo-

CRACK!

“Hm?”

Mono looked at where the sound had come from. It was over to his left, and he saw that the ground had split a little, and a fuzzy light was emanating from below.

“Hmm.”

He gingerly slipped off the chair, and regretted it instantly. All his joints, creaked, groaned, and clicked; and trying to stand caused him so much pain, that he just collapsed. He whimpered and tried to push himself up, but it hurt so much. He knew that he hadn’t moved it in a while, but he never imagined that it would have hurt this much. He couldn't seem to find the strength the stand, so he just dragged himself towards the open crack. His bones groaned, and his joints clicked and ached, but he pushed forward and pushed harder until he finally reached the edge of the split.

His disappointment was immeasurable when he peered over the edge and only saw static. But at least there was something that broke up the monotony of his tiring existence.

He casually reached out to feel the static and was greeted with a familiar fuzzy sensation, that he was used to feeling when he went through televisions. He pushed his hand deeper, and was surprised to find his hand hitting something solid but thin, like… glass?

He twisted his body a little and pressed both his hands against the surface below the static. The Flesh around him started to gurgle, and the split started slowly shrinking. Despite his aching muscles, Mono slammed his hands through the static and felt the surface give, and is quickly dragged through. He’s sent flying through the static and hears the sound of shattering glass, an electric spark and the sound of a fuse blowing. When he finally manages to will his eyes open, he finds himself is a simple room, with a bookcase, a chair, and a rug. But most importantly, he sees before him, a television; with a broken screen, and the pieces scattered around him.

After a few minutes of staring that the broken television set, Mono let out a hoarse groan; the first time he’d opened his mouth in a very, very long time.

There’s a thud, as he goes limp on the rug, and passes out. A sleep, that’s years overdue.


	2. Outside

Mono wakes rather suddenly, on his rug in the middle of his strange room. He sharply looks around the room is a panicked manner before calming, grinning, and laughing if you can call it that. His voice box was basically full of dust, due to the fact that it hadn’t been used for so long.  
After joyously coughing and wheezing, he stretched, feeling all his bones pop. Each one hurt, and his spine hurt worst of all. But it didn’t matter, he was out. He looked at the window to see rays of light. Real light. It’s the little things you miss when you’re stuck in a room.  
Soon, he found the strength to shakily get to his feet, only to realise something odd. He could very easily see over the broken television. And he distinctly remembered not being able to do that. However, that wasn’t the only shock, he’d have to deal with. The next surprise came when he was finally able to limp and hobble his way to the door. He simple reached up, and grabbed the handle… paused… and stared at it. His feet were still on the floor, and he could grab the handle. The door handle was still above his head, but still.  
It took a little effort; he had to lift himself up and put his weight onto the handle, but he was about to open the door with relative ease. He staggers out to see that everything seemed to be smaller than he remembered. This was making him really worry that he was bigger, and not that everything around him was small. Because that would mean that he’d have to consider the terrifying question, of how long he sat in that chair.  
Staggering through the halls and corridors, leaning heavily on the walls and bannisters, he made his way up to the roof to get his bearings. It took a lot of effort, but he finally cleared the last set of stairs that led to the roof. Aaaand yep. There was the signal tower. Standing tall and proud, like a massive middle finger to the entire world.  
He takes a look around the roof and sees a giant old greenhouse garden, will a small shed at the back. Perhaps with something useful inside? Pushing forward, he peers through the glass to see that there are vines inside moving around, almost like they’re feeling around. Another one of the broadcast’s twisted creations. It appeared like the plants couldn’t see, and relied solely on touch. There was a pile of dead leaves in the corner by the glass door; and on the far side, near the shed, he sees a lighter. Perfect. His plan becomes clear.  
He stands by the door, and waits patiently for the vines to not be touching the door, before slipping in and shutting it behind him. He didn’t want any of the plants escaping. All the plant’s main bodies were situated on tables, giving Mono the space to crawl under them, and only have to worry about vines occasionally passing by. Every now and again he had to grab the bottom of the table and lift himself off the ground to allow a vine to pass by under him.  
It didn’t take him long to get his hands on the fire starter, and immediately makes his way back to the door. This however didn’t seem like it was going to be as easy. The vines were starting to get riled up, and they were moving faster and passed more frequently. Mono tries to rush back to the door, but in his haste fails to see a vine sliding behind him. The second it touches the back of his heel, it suddenly coils around his ankle like a snake, earning a raspy yelp. He instinctually kicks back with his other foot, hitting the vine hard with his heel, making it recoil. Taking the opportunity, he charges forward, hopping and jumping over the rest of the vines, quickly lighting one of the dead leaves on fire, and diving out, before slamming the door shut. The vines hit against the glass but only crack it.  
Mono takes deep breaths, which is slowly starting to get easier. That wasn’t so bad. Did nearly get caught though. Speaking of…  
He looks down at his leg. He’s never managed to escape anything’s clutches like that. Was he stronger? If he had really grown, then it stood to reason that he was stronger but… wow… the possibilities really open up. Everything that was just too heavy before, all the things that took so long to push because of how heavy they were… no more having to rely on someone else to pull him out when he can’t make a jump. He’d pull himself up. He’d never give anyone the opportunity to drop him ever again.  
He's yanked out of his thought by burning vines that burst through the glass walls of the greenhouse. He leapt back for safety as the vines flail around before slowly becoming weaker, and going limp. It takes a moment for him to muster the courage to check that all the plants had stopped. And not only had they stopped, but they were all still on fire, which was comforting. He pushes his way in and to the back, where thankfully, the shed stood, not on fire. That would have been embarrassing. A tug of the handle, opens the old shed door to the world, allowing Mono entry. And he immediately fell in love with what he saw. A big, shiny, two-handed axe.  
He grabbed it in a heartbeat and was surprised to find himself holding it, rather than merely dragging it along. It was still very heavy though, and his tired and aching muscles screamed at him to put it back down. He instead rested it against his shoulder, while holding it. It was getting painfully clear, that either this entire building was occupied by midgets; or… he’d been sitting alone in that chair, in that tiny room… for years… multiple years. He started to quiver a little, and his eyes started to tear up. How?! How could she have been so cruel? … He knew why. She was a monster. He saw her breaking the fingers of manikins, crack a bully’s head open with her bare hands, warms her hands off the ashes of the Doctor in the furnace, and how could he forget her monstrous form in the signal tower. He’d never changed like that. Maybe the tower was just showing her true colours. Why did he even care that she was taken?! … But of course, he knew the answer to that too… It was because he did care… he cared a lot. After she was taken, not even the Transmission, the Thin Man, or the Flesh, could stop him from finding and saving her. All because he cared for her so much. Clearly, she didn’t feel the same way.  
The axe clattered to the ground, as Mono let all his pain, regret, longing, and misery manifest itself into a scream; and this time, the Flesh wasn’t going to stop him.  
The shockwave of power shattered all the glass into dust, and the towering buildings for miles bent, twisted, and rippled from the force of Mono’s power.

Somewhere far, far away, someone saw the pulse of power and saw the buildings bend to its will. They were standing on a boat, that’s floating not far from a strange dome that protruded out the ocean. At the peak of the dome was a pilar, that bellowed out black smoke. They clutch their stomach suddenly, as they hear a deep gurgling sound from within.

Mono had to wake up from the aftermath of his ‘little’ outburst, half an hour later. He could swear that he felt a presence as he screamed. He’d been suppressing his emotions for far too long. How could he hate and care for someone so much at the same time… care…images of his past friend flashes through his mind. Despite everything… he missed her. He wanted to hit her with the sharp end of his new axe, but he also wanted to sit with her near a fire, sheltered from the rain, and just casually talk with her. Thinking of her made him feel very alone, so he just pushed the thoughts aside.  
It didn’t matter what he wanted anyway. She was probably long gone. However long he was stuck in the tower, she’d been free, and might as well be on the other side of the planet.  
He grabs his new axe and looks through the shed. It’s full of gardening tools that the owner clearly didn’t need for a greenhouse. They seemed equipped to be a groundskeeper with all this. Unfortunately, the only tool of any use to him was the axe; and there’s no way in hell it _wasn’t_ coming with him. But this opened up a new problem. His legs were still weak, and carrying the axe around would be far too difficult in his current state.  
Looking around and brainstorming, he comes up with an ingenious plan.


	3. Plan

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don't ask me how I was able to post chapters in the wrong order. I have no idea.  
> But now you can enjoy them in the right order.

After escaping the Tower, Six had wasted little time in travelling to the ocean. More specifically, towards the Maw. An underwater resort that caters to the extremely wealthy and powerful elite. The perfect place to feed and satiate her newfound hunger. It had taken a long time to get to the harbour, where new guests took boats to get to the Maw; over a month at least. And it took a few more days just to arrive at her destination. She thought it was going to be worth it, but this trip turned out to be a bad idea. The Maw was a very dangerous place for children, as they were captured by the long-armed janitor, before being butchered and taken to the kitchen. This made getting food infinitely harder. And her hunger got worse by the day and normal food just wasn’t satisfying her. Things took a bad turn when a Nome offered her a sausage when she was desperate for something the alleviate her hunger. She knew the sausage wouldn’t make her feel better; but in her hunger, she saw something before her that just might. After that messy ordeal, her hunger pain felt much better, but it didn’t last.

She noticed that no one on board seemed to be affected by the tower's signal. She even saw a working TV at one point. Was it because they were underwater or was something else going on?

Her last obstacle was the proprietress of The Maw, The Lady. A tall woman, who seemed to have magical powers. Her vanity had caused her to resent her face, as the Tower had not been able to permanently corrupt her face, but had tricked her into thinking it had. Making mirrors a fatal weakness. One that Six had no issues with exploiting. It seemed that seeing herself while ‘casting a spell?’ caused it to backfire, and harm her. While The Lady was down, Six savagely tore into her neck, and consumed some of her flesh; transferring the Lady’s powers to Six.

After that, Six simply walked to the exit, devouring the very soul of anyone she saw, leaving a pile of dead guests in her wake. Once at the exit, she just leaves, without looking back. It had been a long time since she first entered the Maw. So many days and nights, running about, looking for something to eat. And now she was free to roam the world and feed her hunger.

She’d… commandeered a boat that was bringing guests to the Maw; removed all the occupants (‘s souls), and set out to find out where the wind will take her. It was here, where she saw the shockwave. The power. The force. And it didn’t look like it came from the signal tower.

A dark thought arises from the midst of her mind. If she could take the Lady’s power, she could probably take the power of whatever that was. Not even the Tower could stop her if she had that power too.

She changed the boat's course straight for the Pale City. That power would be hers.

Mono emerged from the shed with the biggest grin on his face. His axe hung on his back, from a harness that he’d made from tearing up a few empty sacks. The idea came to him when he remembered his key loop on his coat, which he used to carry keys when he needed his hands. But a harness for an axe was a lot harder than he thought. His first few attempts almost strangled him, as the either put too much pressure on the front of his neck, or the weight of his axe made the harness tighten around his neck. But after many failed attempts, he finally made a functional one, that had a small loop just over his shoulder. He could feed the handle of the axe through the loop, and not have the harness choke him.

He also carried a stick from a broken tool handle. It came up to his chest, and he was using it to help him walk. For the time being, he needed help. The axe was too heavy for this, and his new stick was just too convenient. Now he wouldn’t have to stumble, limp, or how to use the walls to get around.

Axe on back, stick in hand and lighter in pocket, Mono was ready to take on the world… Now what?

He paused and thought about it. He had no idea what to do. He’d always had a goal; something to do, somewhere to reach. But now…

Before, when he didn’t know what to do, he’d go out in search of children in need of help… But his heart wasn’t in it now. He didn’t want to help people. And he especially didn’t want to trust anybody ever again. Too much risk. Betrayal had never crossed his mind once, while with her. He knew he’d messed up when she was captured. He knew that she’d probably be angry at him. But to look someone, you cared so much for, in the eye, as they drop you into a pit of torture and torment. The image of her cold stare came to mind and it crushed him. He quickly wiped his eyes.

Okay! Game plan. He’d hold up in this building. Clean it up, make it nice, and most importantly, make it safe. That would give him something productive to do while working out where he should go next. If something were to come up, he could just up and leave. The building seemed safe and free of monsters as it is, minus the killer plants, whose corpses had long since turned to ash.

He looks around the greenhouse, admiring his work, and notices all the glass dust. Ah yes, his powers. He should exercise them, and get them under control. He didn’t want to hurt anyone near him every time he got upset or thought about… well, he needed to learn some control.

As if the two were connected, the boy of the Signal Tower, and the girl of The Maw, both smiled and nodded to themselves at the exact same time, assuring themselves that what they decided to do was a good idea.


	4. Assault

Mono beamed proudly at his newly installed ‘cat flap’, that had been put in, the boarded-up, front door. It was big enough for a child to come inside and just big enough for him to squeeze through. Nearly all other entrances and exits have been blocked off to stop any unwelcome ‘visitors’.

It had taken around a month so far, but this place was really shaping up. The hardest and most important thing he’d done, is more all the television sets to the top floor. The signal was the crux of his powers, but he didn’t want anything that crawled out. Nothing had to date, but he didn’t want to take any chances. He’d also blocked all but a few ways up to the top floor, to make sure anything that happens to appear up there, stays up there.

The rooms had been tidied up to the best of his ability. Up-turned furniture had been flipped and set straight. He’d gone to each room and dusted. And after all the work he’d done, he almost viewed the whole building as his home.

He’d found plenty of time to practice his powers too. Jumping through the screens was as easy as it was before he entered the tower. Just press against the screen, quickly tune to the nearest other screen, and presto! Other ‘talents’ came slowly and harder to master. Such as the ability to see through screens of televisions that weren’t in sight, without jumping through the screen. Abilities that didn’t use televisions directly were the hardest to use. He used the Thin Man for reference for these, for obvious reasons. He’d seen the man grab Six at a distance, that terrible day Six was captured. It was almost like an invisible force was dragging her right into his hand. He hasn’t quite worked it out yet. Small stones and splinters of wood, sure; but anything bigger just won’t move.

Something that made The Thin Man’s presence so terrifying, was how reality seemed to bend and slow around him. Mono accidentally tapped into this power after getting emotional one day and yelled at himself in the mirror. The angrier he got, the world started glitching around him; light objects no longer obeyed gravity, the air became think, light itself seems to be pushed away, leaving a dark blue haze behind it. He was quick to calm himself down when he saw what he was doing. Later, he tried to do it at will, but only managed to keep it up for about a minute before it became too strenuous to keep up.

When Mono was all nice and relaxed in his ‘home’, feeling calm and safe; far away, at The Signal Tower, the doors slowly creaked open, and _things_ start to crawl out. Some slower, some faster, but all moved with purpose towards one location.

A lot closer, a girl in a bright yellow raincoat, was walking down the road and looked up at a building. This build caught her attention with its strange static glow, that emanated from the top floor. Almost as if someone had moved all the televisions, they could find to the top floor of this one building. After looking up at the glow for a moment, she starts making her way to the front door.

Mono sat in a room that he had declared as his own, carefully running a whetstone down the blade of his beloved axe -enjoying the smooth sound of metal getting sharper- when he heard a creak downstair. He tenses at the sound. A visitor. He hadn’t spoken or even seen anyone since Six, and frankly, he was nervous. He carefully slid his axe’s handle into its harness, and grabbed his walking staff that he left by the door; to quietly sneak out of his room, and creep towards the stairs down the hall. He wanted to get a look at whoever or whatever had entered, before approaching and/or presenting himself.

He heard them approaching the stairs and then saw their shadow coming up the stairs and panicked. He scampered away down to the end of the hall, and hide in a doorway, the opposite side of the stairs to his room. He noticed his blunder and cursed himself, as he had also left his door ajar, and the alluring glow of candlelight, highlighting his room out of the many on this floor.

His ‘guest’ reached the first floor, and his heart stopped. Yellow raincoat… No… No, it couldn’t be. That hood. That posture.

Dark feelings started to boil up to the surface, as Mono’s fingers dug into the door frame; and spiked when she started walking towards his room. He felt his power rise up and he let out a shout that rippled down the hall and echoed throughout the building. A shout just like the one he used against Monster Six in the Tower.

“HEY!!”

The girl stopped in her tracks, and spins around, surprised. Before Mono can continue, however, something crashes through the window behind him. He leaps away, to see a giant, sharp incest-like leg trying to claw the rest of, whatever was outside the window, inside. He hears Six let out a short scream and sees her run to his room. Oh no you don’t.

He charges forward, not using his stick to help, and just ‘bites the bullet’. He sees Six push the door open a little as she squeezes through the gap, and once through, slowly start pushing the door shut. She didn’t have time to fully close it, however, because Mono suddenly shoulder rammed the door, just before the latch caught. The door burst open, knocking Six back to the floor. He leaps in, throws his stick aside, and with a rough shove, slams the door shut. He then scampers over to his candle and extinguishes it with his bare hand.

Once he feels that it’s safe to do so, he sits on the floor panting, wincing a little at the pain his legs were in after running like that. They had been getting better, but progress was slow. Slowly he looks up at the girl in his room. She stood in the middle of the room staring at him, and he looked back at her face, which was obscured by the shadow cast by her hood. No doubt that was Six. But she looked the same as when he last saw her. He slowly pushed himself to his feet using his bed for support. Yeah, he was at least a head taller. Resting his chin on her head would be easy. Had she not grown at all? Mono tries to break the awkward silence.

“So…Long time, no see…”

Six reaches out towards him and black mist suddenly grabs him. Wait, no. He could feel like grabbing his soul and slowly grabbing it out. Instinctively, with a weak yell, Mono thrust his arm at her, sending a rippling shockwave. The black mist retracts from him, and Six is thrown against the door. As this happens, the same pointed incest leg pierces the door and starts scratching up the floor. Six is lucky enough to have not been standing, as the leg breaks through, and she’s fast enough to run out of its reach in time. She runs to the far side of the room, to a giant rat hole and dives into it. Mono grunts to himself, knowing that he was too big the crawl through those holes. But he had his own backup methods of secret traversal. Up above the bookcase, was a vent. The vents were big enough for him, but harder to reach.

He scaled the bookcase as quickly as he could, groaning a little at the discomfort he was putting his limbs through, and ripped open the vent, just as something finally crashed through his door. He didn’t dare look back as he scampers down the vents. He hears it screech and the sound of metal tearing, as the thing tries to chase him down the vent, but it's clearly too big.

He kicks the vent to the next room open and climbs/falls out, landing on the bed below. He groans and sits up.

“The windows. I shouldn’t have only blocked the windows on the ground floor.”

He could hear light panting under the bed, and takes a peek. Yep, it was Six. He hops off the bed with a thud and kneels to look under the bed.

“Get out from under there.”

Six didn’t respond, and Mono wasn’t feeling patient. So, he just grabbed her ankle and dragged her out. She kicked and squirmed, but couldn’t stop herself from being dragged out. Mono pulled her out to the centre of the room and stood between her and the bed. We both glared at each other.

“I think you know damn well, who I am, Six.”

She looks up at me, as if by surprise, and paused for a moment.

“It is you… Mono.”

“You’re god damn right. Mind telling me what the hell that was back there?”

“What?”

“All of this. The monsters, that power you had.”

Six folds her arms to show that she isn’t talking to him; he responds by taking his freshly sharpened axe out of its loop, and letting the blade embed itself about an inch into the wooden floor.

“Tell me everything now, or I’m going to remove one of your legs.”

Six quickly hugs her knees and curls her toes.

“I-I don’t know about the monsters.”

“And the powers?”

“It’s a long story.”

“Short version please.”

His voice is laced with ice, making Six hold her knees a little tighter.

“I took them. I feed…”

“Feed?... Were you trying to eat my soul?!”

Six flinches as Mono dislodges the axe head from the floor.

“I should have expected this from a monster like you.”

“Look who’s talking. The Tower clearly did some work on you.”

Mono looks down at himself. Was she talking about his height?

“The Tower doesn’t make people taller you idiot. Time did this to me. Or rather. You did this to me.”

Six clearly didn’t take being called an idiot very well and tries to take Mono’s soul again. Mono, having learned from last time, had started moving as Six lifted her hand. The blunt back of Mono’s axe’s head hit her right in the stomach, making her double over and fall down. Mono tsks at her, for trying that again; but before Mono can call her an idiot a second time, he hears things rampaging down the hall towards their room. Mono dives under the bed as the thing outside slams itself into the door. He looks out from under the bed to see Six clutching her stomach, in pain, and very exposed. Mono couldn’t watch this. Even if it is her.

He quickly scampers to her and drags her under the bed as fast as he could, and only just manages to hide her with him, underneath the bed, as a horror breaks the door into splinters, and scuttles in. Mono holds Six tight and close, as he backs as far into the shadows as he could manage. He could see eight, sharp, pointed legs scamper around, bumping into thinks, and stabbing things on the ground.

One of the legs very suddenly stabs through the bed and thudding very close to Six. Mono instinctively holds Six protectively against his chest and watches the leg slowly pull back out of the bed. After several painfully long minutes, the creature finally exits. But Mono isn’t feeling brave enough to come out yet.

He stays perfectly still until he feels a gentle thumping against the side of his chest. He looks and sees that he’s still holding Six protectively against his chest, and she was about ready to try and kill him again. Each hit was getting harder than the last, so Mono quickly lets her go. She crawls away, and out from under the bed. Mono follows her and watches her sit in the corner, facing it.

“You’re welcome, by the way.”

“You pulled me under the bed...”

“Well yeah. I wasn’t going to just watch as you…oh…”

The memory of how he cowered in fear under a bed as Six was taken by the Thin Man comes back to him, and he turns and bows his head in shame.

“I’m sorry…”

Six glances over her shoulder, to look at Mono, who was facing away from her. Regret and shame were apparent in his face and posture. She turns back around before he has the chance to notice.


	5. Difference

“How do you know it wasn’t the Tower?”

“Huh?”

Six’s question drew Mono out of his thoughts rather suddenly.

“What wasn’t the Tower?”

“Your-”

She gestures at him.

“-growth.”

Mono sighs.

“Did you really think that after all this time, I wouldn’t get taller?”

“All this time? It’s only been a few months.”

Mono turns to look Six in the face.

“Months?”

“Yeah.”

Mono looks at his size, and then back at Six to see how serious she was being.

“…Impossible.”

“It’s true!”

He rubs his forehead.

“But the time I spent in there. The amount I’ve grown. I mean… look.”

Mono walks right up the Six, and she’s forced to look up at him, as her head is only chest level.

“The Tower was playing with you.”

“No. The Tower played with _you_. It turned you into a monster the size of a house, and then you tried to crush me with a hand that was bigger than a fridge. _And_ , you changed back, afterwards. This-”

He gestured to himself.

“-isn’t the Tower’s style.”

Six glares Mono right in the eye, but it’s clear that she’s thinking. He has a point. The terrible entity, that uses a signal to distort reality, corrupt the people, and twists them into horrific beings, with a madness that compels them to commit atrocities.

And Mono doesn’t look like any kind of monster, and he isn’t going to do anything bad…right? She looks up at him, and he stares into space with a puzzled look on his face.

“Six?”

“Y-Yeah?”

“There is something I’ve wanted to ask you, even since you escaped the Tower.”

Six clenches her fist. She knows what he’s about to ask.

“The music box.”

…Six blinks a couple of times.

“What? …”

“The music box you were guarding, while you were…turned. Why were you so attached to it?”

“…I thought you’d want to know-”

Mono quickly raises his hand to stop her, mid-sentence.

“I’m going to avoid that landmine, so that neither of us does something, that we’ll both regret.”

Something about Mono's tone made her feel a little unsafe, so she said no more on the matter.

“The box…the music… helps.”

“Helps?”

“Do you remember when we first met? I had a music box. It… made me feel… safe. Happy. When I listened to it, it brought back memories of times when I was happy. When I didn’t have to worry about what was going to try and skin me, or gut me, or string me up like a puppet.”

Mono fidgets with his hands while listening closely.

“In the tower, in the room, I was safe. I didn’t have to worry about anything. Everything was perfect. Until…”

Mono thought for a moment before replying.

“You presented it to me at one point.”

“What do you mean?”

“When I first found you, in your new…state. At first, you were very shy and protective of the music. But after a little coaxing, you stopped blocking me from it, and let me see it. At which point I… hit it with a hammer.”

Those last words were filled with nothing but guilt. At the time, Mono only cared about getting Six back to normal, and out of the Tower. But now he knows better. He didn’t consider Six’s feelings for a moment. He continues with a question.

“Do you remember why?”

Six doesn’t have an answer for him. Her time as the monster was a bit of a foggy memory, but tries to focus on remembering. She remembers his calling out to her. She remembers feeling comforted by his presence. And then feeling horribly betrayed.

She shakes her head.

“Well, for what it’s worth. I regret smashing it.”

She turns away and acts like she hadn’t heard that.

“Have you worked out how we’re going to get out?”

Mono looks a little disappointed, but responds to her latest question, anyway.

“There’s only one, I can think of. Top floor. There’s a plank that connects one of the windows to the next building over. The hard part is the monster or monsters. And I think I know what its trigger is.”

“Trigger?”

“Yeah. Think about it. We’re sitting in a room with no door, talking, and the monster hasn’t come by once. However, the only time they’ve shown up is right after one of us uses our powers. The first attack was right after I used my power to shout at you. -”

Six smirked.

“-Shh. The second time happened right after you tried to take my soul, and I stopped you from using my power. And the third time, was when you tried to kill me again. I think that we’ll be fine as long as we avoid using our powers.”

No powers. Six ponders on this. Without her powers, getting Mono’s would be a lot harder. But waiting was her only option. Mono knew how to get out of here, and once they were free of the monster, she could use her powers to take out Mono when his guard is down. Yes. She has to be smart about this.

Six isn’t the only one, thinking about things they aren’t saying out loud. While it was nice to talk and pretend everything is fine, just like before; it isn’t. He hasn’t forgotten the two attempts on his life. And also knows that Six will drop him to save her own skin. He can’t trust her, and he isn’t going to.

“Come on. The soon we move, the sooner we get out.”

“Right.”

Mono carefully leads Six down the hall and up the stairs. While Mono can hop up from step to step, Six still has to climb over each one. Six is enraged to get a quarter of the way up and look up to see Mono sitting at the top with a smug look on his face. He isn’t going to help. He’s enjoying this too much. Six is ready to devour his soul, right here, right now; but thinks better of it.

As Mono patiently waits for Six, he rubs his legs. He was showing off, when climbing the stairs, forgetting the state his legs were in. When Six finally reaches him, she hits him in the arm; which only makes him giggle. Her mood doesn’t get better when she sees the next flight of stairs.

“What is that?!”

“A blockade.”

“Why?!”

“I keep all the TVs up there.”

“So?!”

“The last time I was with a TV before the Tower, something came out of it.”

“Then throw them away, instead of blocking off our only exit!”

“I use them. Probably as much as you kill people for fun.”

“It’s not for fun!”

“Do you fancy yourself a vigilant?”

“No! It’s because-”

It’s at this point, that Six’s body remembers how hungry it is; and growls angrily. Six doubles over and Mono jumps back in alarm, at both the sound, and Six’s sudden reaction. Six growls at herself, the pain is immense.

No, no, no. Not now. He’s still useful.

She collapses against a wall and slides down it, clutching herself, and baring her teeth. But the pain is only getting worse and worse. She looks up to see a very concerned Mono, standing over her.

She was just about to leap at him and rip him apart for his flesh when she saw a little movement behind him.

Six knocks Mono to the ground as she dives past him, at her new target.

Mono is shocked by the sudden ‘attack’ and looks over at Six who has her face down to the floor.

“S-Six?”

She slowly lifts her head and turns to look at him, and his face goes pale. In her mouth, is a recently alive rat, it’s lifeblood dripping from Six’s mouth.

Seeing Mono’s horrified face, makes Six turn away from him, in embarrassment. She’d never let anyone watch her feed, and it’s a bit awkward to have someone do it now. Especially since she just lost her composure in front of him. She’d hadn’t eaten in a while, and was too distracted on her task to obtain new power to realise.

She hungrily tears into the rat, getting blood everywhere. And doesn’t stop for a second, until she’s satisfied.

Once the hunger and pain have stopped, Six stands and casually wipes her mouth and turns to Mono; who still looks pale, and horrified.

“I… I have real food. If you were that hungry you could have just asked.”

“It doesn’t work like that.”

“What are you talking about?”

“It has to be alive.”

“That’s not how hunger works.”

“That’s how _my_ hunger works!”

Mono just gives a cold stare.

“…What a monster you’ve become.”

He walks right up to her, and she takes a defensive step back. Mono ignores her retreat and roughly wipes some rat blood off the corner of her mouth. She looks up at him in surprise as he starts walking off.

“Come on. I’ll show you how to get to the top floor.”

Six traces her fingers over her lips to make sure there isn’t any more blood and hurries after him.


	6. Fall

Mono walks quickly down the hall; He didn’t care about the pain right now. He can’t even look at Six. She ate a rat! A live rat! And then says that only living flesh can satiate her hunger. A wolf in sheep’s clothing. What kind of monster is walking right behind him? Did she gain this horrific habit before or after they met? Is he just a walking lunch box at this point?

His hands fidget a little, feels as though they should be holding a weapon to protect him from the monster in the yellow raincoat.

At the far end of the hall is a broken elevator. The elevator had snapped off the line, and fallen through the basement, but after forcing open the doors on this floor, he uses the elevator shaft, to traverse between the two top floors.

He walks to the open elevator doors, and Six sees a rope.

“What’s that?”

“Counterweight pulley system.”

“A what?”

“I don’t know, I saw it in a book. All you need to know is you pull on the rope and it lifts you up. Only works once before I need to reset it though.”

“Only once? Then how are we both meant to get up there.”

He grabs the rope, and thinks for a moment, before turning back to her.

“You know what?... that sounds like a you-problem.”

And with that, Mono takes a step back. He drops about half a metre, before soaring up to the top floor. Six

“Hey!”

“What’s up?”

“You can’t leave me down here!”

“Can’t I?”

“You have to help me up!”

“I’m sorry, _what_?! I don’t _have_ to do anything. What exactly do I get out of helping you?”

“You…”

Six thinks about the question. Did he have anything to gain? She can’t think of anything, but she really needs to get out of this building.

“…P-Please?”

Mono sighs from the elevator door on the floor above.

“There’s a ladder to your left, that’ll get you up here.”

Six leans through the door and sees the ladder. It’s a bit of a jump, but she could make it. She backs up and makes a running jump at the ladder. There’s a loud clank as she hits the ladder and a creak. The ladder’s old, but it’s holding Six’s weight. Mono watches her climb to the top, and takes a step back, giving her room to make the jump herself. He didn’t want to help her.

But as she readies herself to jump from the ladder, the ladder creaks loudly and the top rung gives a little. Six panics and quickly tries to rush the jump, but in her haste, the rung comes off as she’s pushing off of it.

Mono sees the rung come out the wall, and finds himself already diving forward.

Six reaches for the ledge, in the air, but sees that she’s not going to be able to reach it. She looks down, as she starts to fall, but suddenly feels something clamp around her forearm.

She looks up in surprise, to see Mono looking down with equal surprise; while his hand tightly gripping her wrist. They both just stay there, staring at each other. Mono didn’t know what just happened. He was standing, and then suddenly, he was on his front, hanging over the edge of an almost bottomless pit. He was about to start pulling her up when a thought crosses his mind.

A crumbling bridge. A leap of faith… A fall…

He could drop her. And nobody would care. Nobody would stop him. How many innocent people has she harmed? Has she eaten anyone?

His grip loosens ever-so-slightly, but Six feels it and tries to franticly grab his arm with her other hand. Her movements make her hood fall back, and upon realising that she doesn’t have the strength to reach up with her other arm, she stares pleadingly up at Mono.

She feels her sins crawling on her back, thinking about every reason Mono would have to let her go. He has that same emotionless expression on his face, that she had, in the same situation, where she was given a choice. And she chose to let go.

Mono stares, still deep in thought. All he has to do is let go. What was stopping him? He said it himself; he gains nothing from helping her. Finally, she would pay for what she did.

And Mono, with a twisted smile, let’s go.

Six felt Mono release her arm, and everything stopped. Six’s scared eyes look into Mono’s cold stare. The second Mono lets go is stretched out for hours. Mono and Six just stare into each other’s eyes, reading everything. Mono sees Six’s fear, her anger, her hunger; and Six sees Mono’s wrath, his triumph… his regret.

.

.

.

.

.

No

Mono’s suddenly clamps back down, nearly breaking Six’s fingers. She squeals in pain and surprise as Mono lifts her up by her hand and practically throws her over him, to safety.

She lands on her side, and she clutches her hand, which is burning with pain. She doesn’t understand. Mono had dropped her. She swears he did. She looks over at him, on his hands and knees, panting, and glaring angrily at the floor.

He could have ended it, right then, right there. No more would he have to worry about Six killing him. No more would he have to be reminded of betrayal. He could have spent the rest of his life, _not_ sleeping with one eye open; Always keeping an eye over his shoulder. He could have been rid of her. She could have gotten; What. She. Deserved!

Mono, with a yell of frustration, slams his fist into the floor. Standing up, he takes his axe off his back and walks over to Six, who is still on the floor, with the blade dragging along the floor.

Six, seeing Mono walk at her with an axe, tries to scramble to her feet; forgetting how much Mono had hurt her hand. As she puts her weight on it, pain shoots up her arm, and it instinctively buckles. Mono raises the axe, and Six finds herself with her back against. She reaches her hand out, considering using her powers. But Mono had shown her multiple times, that he was faster, and his powers could stop hers.

As Mono brings his axe down, Six screams out two words, they both never thought she would say.

“I’m sorry!”

The axe head slams into the wall, carving out a large gash and sending splinters flying. Six, who had covered her head, very slowly looks up and finds the axe has impaled the wall, an inch from her head. Tears of fear roll down her cheeks, but she lets out a little gasp as she feels droplets on her hands. She looks to see Mono, with his hands still gripping his axe, gritting his teeth, and crying.

“…I hate you…”

Somehow, those words cut into Six, like… an axe. Mono drops to his knees before her and repeats himself.

“I hate you.”

He grabs her by the collar and raises his fist. He holds his fist up, and it starts to shake. Tears continue to fall down both of there faces, as he drops his fist and his head, in defeat; as he just sobs, repeating the same phrase again, and again; softly hitting the floor with his fist.

“I hate you. I hate you. I hate you.”

He feels her hands slowly grip his head and submits himself to his fate. She was going to kill him here and now, and he didn’t have the heart to stop her. This was the end. All because he couldn’t let her go.


	7. A Pause

Mono wakes up, much to his surprise. He’s on his back, staring up as mostly yellow. His eyes slowly focus on Six, above him; with an almost unreadable expression. She almost looks… disappointed? There’s definitely a hint of conflict.

They both stare at each other, with mixed emotions. The main one being: ‘Why are you like this?’.

He reaches up and touches her face. Yep. Real.

“I’m alive.”

“Yeah…”

“You didn’t kill me…”

“…You didn’t kill me…”

“That doesn’t count.”

“Why?”

“Because I wanted to.”

Six doesn’t look surprised but does seem a little sad.

“But you didn’t…”

“…I guess.”

“Why?”

Mono looks her in the eye.

“Why do you care?”

“Because that reason saved my life.”

“You’re working out how useful I am, so you can drop me again.”

Six hits Mono’s forehead with the bottom of her fist.

“I thought we weren’t going there.”

“Well, now I know why you didn’t kill me.”

“You don’t know anything.”

“Aw. Did you not kill me, because you _really_ care~?”

Six hits Mono again.

“Ow. You’re mean.”

“And you’re an idiot.”

“So, why did you not kill me when you had the chance?”

“Who says I want you dead?”

“Your failed attempts. You seem to like looking me in the eye when you try to kill me.”

Six glares at him.

“So? Why didn’t you try again?”

“I still need you to show me the way out.”

“You know the exit is on the top floor, and here we are. You don’t _need_ me to show you the one open window. And I know you’re smart enough to have noticed that. Try again.”

“I-I don’t know.”

“That’s not an answer.”

Six growls in frustration.

“Why do you care so much all of a sudden?! Why don’t you tell me why you didn’t let me fall?!”

“Because despite how much I hate you, I never stopped loving you!”

There’s a long silence after that. Mono had just blurted it out, but after thinking about it, he can’t really deny it. He can’t bring himself to truly hate her. She’s twisted and cruel, and deceitful, and bloodthirsty. But… lying here, just talking to her…he hasn’t been happier since he escaped the tower. And it isn’t because it’s just anybody; it’s because it’s her. When she dropped him, it didn’t just hurt; it broke his heart.

Six doesn’t know what to say. What _can_ she say? Mono had just confessed hate and love to her. Although he made the first of the two, clear before passing out earlier. But he couldn’t have loved her.

“…But you put me in so much danger.”

“I did?”

“The teacher, the bullies, the doctor, and the Thin Man. And then… what you did in the tower...”

“That was hardly my fault. The pale city is dangerous. And I always saved you when you were taken.”

“That doesn’t make it better. I trusted you to keep me safe. And you only seemed to drag me towards more danger.”

“Hey, that’s… you trusted me?”

“Well yeah, obviously. Why is that such a surprise?”

“I don’t know. You just never seemed to care that much.”

Six lets out an offended gasp and hits Mono again.

“I did too!”

“Ow! Stop doing that! You can’t get mad at me for not thinking you cared. You weren’t exactly an open book. And there’s also what you did in the tower.”

“I…T-Then what did you think? Why do you think I went with you?”

“Because I was a useful tool for you. And when I couldn’t save you from the Thin Man, you realised I was going to be no further use. So, you got rid of me.”

Mono looks at Six and sees a face of pure horror.

“You… you really think that?”

Mono could tell that saying that had upset her a little. Which weirdly made him happy.

“Not anymore. But I don’t know what I was to you.”

“You were… I don’t know. I guess, after you helped me escape the hunter’s house, we were like… a pair. Partners in crime.”

It’s time. Mono wants his answer.

“What changed?”

Six stays quiet.

“Six. -”

Six makes eye-contact.

“- We should talk about it.”

“Things… piled up.”

“When did it start?”

She thinks.

“With the bullies. But I didn’t think much of it. After they took me, it felt like forever before you saved me. I was worried you weren’t coming. I felt so helpless. And I started feeling worse after to lead us to the hospital.”

Mono listens calmly and patiently.

“We barely got away from all the patients, and when you and The Doctor crawled into the furnace, I wasn’t sure you’d come out. And after we escaped-”

“I let you down. -”

Six looks down at Mono in surprise. He’d turned his head, to look away from her. He couldn’t bear to look her in the eye, as he confesses his sins.

“- I-I didn’t… I didn’t know _he_ was going to come out. I know you didn’t want me to, and I did it anyway. And when we hid…I froze. I was too afraid… too concerned about my own wellbeing, to offer my hand, reach out, anything!”

Six feels Mono shudder a little and she sees tears. She gently feels his hair without thinking.

“What’s done is done.”

“That didn’t stop what I did next.”

“…What did you do?”

“In my regret, I made my way straight for the tower. He tried to stop me. So, I got away. When I reached the tower, he stood in my way. So, I got rid of him.”

Six resisted the urge to flinch at Mono’s last sentence. The way he said it… It was like… he wasn’t the one that said it.

“Got rid of him?”

“We clashed… I won. And I entered the tower… the doors opened for me… like… they were welcoming me in. I wish I’d questioned that then. -”

Welcomed him in? This wasn’t making much sense for Six.

“- Once in, I just needed to follow the sound of your music box. The perfect lure.”

“Lure? Mono, I don’t understand.”

“It… doesn’t matter. What matters is what happened. And I’m sorry. I should have known how important it was to you. The tower gave you everything you ever wanted. A safe room, full of toys, and your favourite music box. And I came in a took it all away. Woke you up from a beautiful dream.”

“Mono, I couldn’t have stayed in there. None of it was real.”

Mono turns his head, to look Six dead in the eye. She feels him staring into her soul.

“Which brings us to the main event.”

“Mono, I-”

“You dropped me.”

“…”

“You looked me in the eye… you were given a choice…and you let go…”

Six didn’t have the words. She’d never questioned the exact reason she let go. She wanted to get away from him, out of rage, and for her safety. But why drop… Six has the answer.

“Because it was easy. -”

Mono just looks at her…waiting.

“- After everything, I couldn’t trust you not to keep me safe. I couldn’t trust you to keep me out of danger. And I couldn’t always wait for you to save me when I got caught following you… because I never wanted to be there, the time you never came… So, I saw a way to get rid of you… So, I didn’t have to follow you to my death…”

“You wanted to get away… before I could betray your trust again.”

The two just stare at each other. Both have tears in their eyes. Mono reaches up and gently wipes a tear off her cheek. A stark contrast, to when he roughly dragged his thumb across her cheek to remove some rat blood. He speaks in a soft and calm tone.

“I’ll never be able to forgive what you did… And I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to trust you again… But… if you promise not to try and kill me, I’ll let it go. How’s that sound?”

Six lightly hits Mono on the head again.

“You… are you, idiot. -”

She smiles at him, and pat his head.

“- Fine. I won’t kill you. But I don’t need protecting.”

“A truce, it is.”

Mono carefully pushes himself to his feet, with a groan, and stretches his back. He turns to face Six and offers his hand.

“Let’s escape. Together.”

Six rolls her eyes with a smile and takes his hand. Maybe she could put killing him a little longer.


End file.
